The Great Shinobi War
by erasmus.locke
Summary: Response to Vaanarash's The Great Shinobi War challenge. The first War never ended. 80 years later, it has become a war of superpowers, Suna on one side and Kiri on the other. Naruto-centric from a teacher's perspective. No pairings.


**Summary:** Response to Vaanarash's The Great Shinobi War challenge. The War never ended. 80 years later, it has become a war of superpowers, Suna on one side and Kiri on the other. Naruto-centric from a teacher's perspective.

**AN:** This story is going to be very similar in perspective to any Sherlock Holmes novel. I will be writing from the perspective of Naruto's teacher in the first person, though still focused on Naruto's story.

Also, I tend to not use much in the way of Japanese. I use the -sama honorific and the Japanese names for some things (as their English equivalents sound ridiculous), but I won't be using -san, -kun, and -chan after everyone's name. It's not only tedious to me as the author, but it gets tedious to me as a reader.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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><p><em><strong>Chapter One: Meet Naruto!<strong>_

The Great Shinobi War hasn't ended. For nearly 80 years now, shinobi of all nations have been at war with one another.

Sure, there have been some treaties made, and allies gained and lost; it's been a ridiculously long war, after all. But now it's pretty much come down to two shinobi nations wanting to keep the war going, and the others just going along with it.

Why do they go along with it? Pretty obvious, once you think about it. The other shinobi nations are essentially the bitches of the two strongest nations, Suna and Kiri. If, for example, Konoha didn't want to go along with what the Mizukage and his council wanted?

Konoha would be annihilated in a day.

That's the difference in the nations; Suna and Kiri have two fully-trained jinchuriki each. The other nations have partially trained jinchuriki, or none at all. Hell, one or two of the biju may even be roaming the world freely.

Things have settled down in the past 20 or so years. It's mostly a cold war at this point; shinobi run close to borders of the other nations and are discovered by a border patrol, and the initial squad usually withdraws at that point.

Shinobi warfare has gotten to the point that so much training is put into each individual that except for completely backward nations like Iwa, no real fighting gets done unless it's for an incredibly important objective. Shinobi are simply far too expensive to throw away. Iwa is the exception, as they still churn out shinobi in massive numbers, but a cell of three is usually easily killed by a jonin or maybe even a chunin of another nation.

What does this have to do with me?

I'm a general in the War. Saizo Unno, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the one they call the Storm God, at your service. This is my story, though most would say that it's a story about an incredible young man who had the courage to try the impossible—and accomplished it—with a grin on his face.

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><p>I'm an exceptional shinobi. The only match for me in my home country of Kiri is the Mizukage. Even a trained jinchuriki in total control of their demon, as powerful as they are, would be wise to not underestimate me. Not to say that I could beat a jinchuriki at the height of their power, but you get the idea; there are a handful of shinobi in the world that I would retreat from.<p>

Physically, I'm imposing. In a world where the average height is notably shorter than six-foot, I stand at six-four. My short brown hair stands in a wash-and-wear mess above my kiri forehead protector. I have a scar that starts above my left eyebrow, snakes over the bridge of my nose, and ends on my right jawline. My nose has been broken several times and it shows, though no woman has ever told me that it makes me any less attractive.

My sword (because I _am_ one of the Seven) is a six foot-long, four inch-wide, broadsword-styled behemoth. It has no guard, just a plain blade leading into a fourteen-inch hilt. I carry it on the back of my grey kiri flak jacket, under which I wear a tight black shirt that ends just before my elbows. From the back of my hands to my elbows I wear a swordsman's kote—forearm guards capable of stopping and deflecting most any bladed weapon—in black. I wear black ninja sandals to just under my knees, and black light-weight shorts to just beyond my knees.

I've been sent by the Mizukage to Konoha. Five years ago, their Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi into his son; I'm taking on a genin team at long last, though I'll be training them from the age of five. A jinchuriki of the most powerful demon, an ice bloodline user, and one of the few remaining Uchiha. Expectations are high.

Mine, I mean. The Mizukage is expecting great things, but I'm expecting greater.

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><p>On arriving in Konoha, I was saluted at the gates. As a matter of course, the guards had been notified of my arrival by messenger pigeon. I'm the most laid-back of the Seven, but even with that in mind, I'd probably end up putting the guards in the hospital with a few broken bones if they had tried to stop me.<p>

Unlike Kisame and Zabuza; they'd probably just kill the guards for even asking who they were. I can't blame them, either. Tall guy with huge sword and Kiri forehead protector. Hm, I wonder who that guy is?

Snickering a little as I strode past the guards (which had them nearly peeing themselves in fear), I continued my walk to the Hokage's tower with my hands in my pockets. As I went, I took note of the many things that have changed with the advent of new technology developed for the War.

Radios are commonplace, now. Everyone has one, and every shinobi generally has one sealed away, if not on them at all times. Television is new, but catching on fast: shinobi have started to use video surveillance to watch things from a protected place, rather than putting themselves at risk. Refrigeration means that the markets have more exotic food than the regular foodstuffs that are grown in the area; especially in the Land of Water where Kiri is located, with our archipelago being so large and diverse, we see different fish and game brought into the village all the time.

Small changes, but large in the effect they have on the civilians.

Arriving at the Hokage's tower, I was quickly escorted into the Hokage's office by a chunin aide: "Unno-sama! You're here! This way, this way!"

It's kind of sickening how the aides to the Kage in our ally nations suck up to members of the Seven.

I like meeting the other Kage, though. I've come to realize that even though all of the villages have gone through at least two (some are on their fifth, like Kiri) Kage, every single one that I've met haven't wanted anything to do with the War.

Well, that's of course on our side of the War. We keep fighting to prevent loss of life on our side, and to fight the expansionism that Suna has embraced, but every Kage on our side—Hokage, Raikage, and Mizukage—have each told me that they hate the War.

The Hokage in front of me isn't Minato Namikaze, though.

"The Fourth is dead?" I asked, belatedly realizing I bypassed any introductions.

"Yes. He died reinforcing the seal on his son six months ago." Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, said in his gravelly voice. He was in his kage robes, seated at his desk, and spoke from around his pipe.

I had met Sarutobi on many occasions in the past; the "Professor" had always impressed me with his knowledge of jutsu, and he had even helped me with my lightning affinity, much as Minato, his successor, had helped me with my wind affinity.

"Unfortunate. Minato was a great leader, and will be sorely missed if tensions come to a boiling point over Ame." I was speaking about the mounting tensions between the two alliances, Suna-Iwa-Kusa and Kiri-Konoha-Kumo, over the supposedly neutral Ame, whose technology was coveted by all. "I hope that my team is ready? I want to at least get the boring stuff out of the way today."

"Yes, sir," even allied Kage treated one of the Seven with deference, "they are awaiting you at training ground seven."

Nodding my approval and without much more than a casual wave, I jumped out of the open window, heading toward my waiting team.

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><p>Five year-olds are interesting to watch, especially five year-olds that are going to be shinobi. All three of my pupils were sitting calmly on the edge of the large clearing that made up training ground seven with their backs against a large tree, conversing softly with one another. The only way I could tell that one was a bit more boisterous than the other two was because he was making small hand motions as he talked.<p>

These three would become my life over the next ten years or so; the Kiri Alliance had wagered a lot on these three youngsters growing up to be incredible shinobi, much as they had me, 17-some years earlier.

It was a standard practice that at the age that a child would normally enter the academy, they would be given tests to measure potential; based on those tests, they would either be entered into the academy as per the norm, or they would be preemptively put into a three-man cell and given to a legendary shinobi as their teacher.

I was that shinobi, and I thought to make an impression on them from the very beginning. Even at five, the brats would be jaded by shinobi sucking up to them, trying to gain favor with their families. It was time to put aside my normally reserved and low-key presence and go for flashy.

Letting my storm element chakra fill me as I formed the Ram seal with my hands, a bolt of lightning struck ten yards from the kids out of a blue sky as I materialized on the spot in one of my signature moves: the storm shunshin. It was slightly more impressive than shunshin abilities performed by other shinobi.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the expressions of the three as they got their first look at me: they had all jumped up at the huge boom that the bolt of lightning had made, and their eyes were the size of dinner plates, ready to fall out of their heads. The blonde kid—who had to be Minato's son—was in danger of catching flies, his mouth was hanging open so wide.

"Hey. I'm your instructor. You guys can call me 'Saizo' or 'sir', whichever you prefer. I'm not big on formality," I said as I gave a little wave. "Why don't we all sit down and get introductions out of the way?"

Gingerly sitting down, the three didn't take their eyes off of me—or more specifically, my gigantic sword—as they settled in.

"Right, how about I go first?" I started off after the kids had stared at me for a moment, "I'm Saizo Unno, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. I don't come from a notable shinobi family, but my father is the best blacksmith in the world; he forged a bunch of the Seven's swords. I grew up around that stuff, so I've always been kind of gifted with a sword. I've been a member of the Seven since I was 15." I then nodded at the Uchiha, "right, you're next, kid."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I'm one of the last Uchiha. I was selected for this team because my family have all been some of the most powerful shinobi in the world for the last 100 years. My brother Itachi just made ANBU captain. I am expected to attain the sharingan by the time I am 7." Sasuke kept his arms folded over his stomach with slightly hunched shoulders throughout his entire monotone speech, though when he mentioned the sharingan his face twitched minutely.

I pointed at the black-haired girl, indicating that she should go next. "I am Haku. I am a war orphan, though it is known that my mother was a member of the Yuki clan. I possess their bloodline, and thus have the ice manipulation bloodline, hence my selection for this team." I nodded at the selection; obviously I could help her with her wind and water affinities, though with ice she'd be more or less on her own for advanced manipulation.

Without any need of prompting, Minato's son spoke up: "I'm Naruto Namikaze. My dad was the Fourth Hokage, and he sealed the Kyuubi in me. That's how he died, securing my seal last year. That's also probably why I'm on this team, I guess. I'm supposed to end the War, or that's what my dad told me before he died."

Well, that's not a morbid sentiment. At all.

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><p><strong>AN:<strong> That's where we'll end this chapter. We've just gotten started, and I apologize for the lack of real Naruto characters in this chapter, but it was kind of necessary that I set up my AU based on the challenge via Vaanarash. I promise, this story is about Naruto even though it's told from my OC's point of view.

A few notes before we proceed to the next chapter: yes, my OC has the storm release bloodline. Yes, he's incredibly powerful, but he's not a one-man killing machine that can decimate armies. He's intended to be roughly as powerful as a kage, and that's the sort of person that Kiri and Konoha want to train the Kyuubi container, as they see him as their atom bomb to end the War with.

Yes, Haku is a girl. I don't like Haku as a boy, and Haku works better in my story as a girl.

Battle will be intensely gritty and realistic; shinobi in my story are more likely to use stealth and deception rather than sit making long series of hand seals only to create an "assassination" jutsu that makes a ton of noise after it's formed. Expect a lot of use of substitutions, shunshin, and henge.

You won't see Saizo in battle very often, unless Naruto's team is incredibly outmatched. The Wave mission? Saizo probably would have sat back even against Zabuza and only interfere when his student's lives were in immediate danger. It's the way he teaches.

Please leave some reviews to let me know how you like it. Updates will likely be incredibly erratic, though I'll do my best to update biweekly (every two weeks).


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